


Not Quite Valentine's

by rethrin



Category: Franklin & Bash
Genre: Anniversary, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, M/M, Open Relationships, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-15
Updated: 2012-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-10 22:57:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/471629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rethrin/pseuds/rethrin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter caught him right there in the hall, turned him around and kissed him, pushing him awkwardly against the door jamb.  Jared had just got home and had been heading straight for bed when Peter called to him from the bathroom, then came out half a minute later, he hadn't dressed, just had a towel wrapped around his waist. Jared kissed him back without even thinking, dropped his bag, and stroked his hands up over Peter's skin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Quite Valentine's

**Author's Note:**

> I 'chose not to use archive warnings' because there are mentions of sex in this where they are 16, but they're actually both 36 now. I didn't want to mark it as underage because it's not particularly, but then again it is in passing. Be warned if needs be.

Peter caught him right there in the hall, turned him around and kissed him, pushing him awkwardly against the door jamb. Jared had just got home and had been heading straight for bed when Peter called to him from the bathroom, then came out half a minute later, he hadn't dressed, just had a towel wrapped around his waist. Jared kissed him back without even thinking, dropped his bag, and stroked his hands up over Peter's skin, he was warm and smooth and still damp, Jared moaned deep in his throat as Peter's tongue licked into his mouth. 

After a second they both registered the sounds of Carmen watching tv just down the hall. No door or wall between them because they'd bought a stupid house that was really low on privacy. They knew she probably knew, everyone probably knew, but they didn't want to actually have to talk about it ever, so they tried to be discreet. Ish. They clumsily pushed into Jared's room, shoving the door closed behind them, still kissing. Peter pushed Jared back against the door, and kissed him even harder. He pulled at his jacket to get it off his shoulders and started unbuttoning his vest and shirt. 

"Where've you been?" he asked, a little gruffly, as Jared stopped kissing him and started kicking off his shoes and shrugging out of his jacket.

"Was with Hanna at the office," Jared said, letting his vest fall to the floor too. 

Peter's hands paused and he looked away for a second. "Oh. Is this bad timing?"

Jared smiled, leaned in and kissed Peter's throat. Shook his head. He gave up on buttons and started pulling his shirt and undershirt off over his head. "She had an evidence dump from the other side at quarter to five, and the trial starts tomorrow. I was helping her sort through thirteen boxes of meaningless paperwork, that's all."

Not bad timing. Jared was tired and aching, and Peter looked amazing, and smelled fantastic, and this was going to feel so good, and they hadn't had sex in ages. But it was _weird_ timing. They only usually did this when neither of them had got laid for a while, and though Hanna might only want him for his brilliant legal mind nowadays, yesterday was valentine's day. He'd made the most of that and was pretty sure Peter had too, he certainly hadn't come home last night. But they'd been working different cases all day and Jared hadn't seen him to ask how it had gone, so maybe it had been a bust, who knew? Who, more importantly, cared? If Peter wanted a fuck right now, Jared wasn't arguing. 

Peter took Jared's shirt off him as he pulled it over his head, and dropped it to the floor, he put his hands on Jared's waist, and backed him firmly against the door again, looking deep into Jared's eyes, smiling a little. Jared licked his lip, and Peter smiled much wider, and bent to kiss him again. He was soft this time, his tongue just playing gently at the corners of Jared's mouth. Jared looped his arms around Peter's neck, holding himself up so that Peter didn't have to bend too far to kiss him. He pressed forwards hard into Peter's chest, but Peter's hands had hold of him at the waist, squeezing into soft flesh there, holding him back, keeping him pinned against the door. 

After a minute, maybe two, Peter moaned and breathed heavily against Jared's mouth. He deepened the kiss, and pushed one arm around Jared's waist, lifting him slightly. Jared helped, taking some of his weight on his arms over Peter's shoulders, one hand tangled in Peter's hair, pulling him closer, so he could kiss him harder. He loved being lifted like this, his feet just inches off the floor, it was always slightly awkward, it hurt where Peter was gripping him, the door handle was sticking into his thigh, but always so worth it for the way his mouth met Peter's, for the way Peter's muscles moved in his arms and his shoulders, as he kept him there. 

Much too soon Peter let him drop again, but he didn't argue, he just moved from Peter's mouth to his throat, kissing and licking at Peter's skin, sucking at a few droplets of water running down from his hair. He licked down to Peter's collar bone, bit at him gently, he let his hands stroke aimlessly over Peter, enjoying the warm hard muscle under his palms.

"Fuck, Peter, so fucking good," he murmured, licking over one nipple, pushing his palm hard against the other, and Peter answered him with a soft sigh of pleasure, and a hand on the back of his head, holding him there, wanting him to do it again. He obliged happily, moaning softly as Peter's nipple stiffened under his mouth. Peter kissed his hair, once, twice, and then again, stroking his hand over the nape of Jared's neck at the same time, and Jared looked up at him, smiled because Peter was being gentle with him. He reached up to kiss him again. Peter kept the kiss much longer than Jared had expected, and when he pulled away it was to kiss Jared's eyebrow, then the top of his head again. His arms were around Jared, and he hugged him tighter for a few moments, kissed his hair again. 

His voice was quiet. "Wanted this all day."

Jared didn't know quite what to do with that, it made him smile without even thinking, it made him warm, imagining Peter _wanting_ him even when he wasn't around, but it felt strange too. And Peter had kind of stopped, the hug almost innocent, holding him close. Jared wasn't sure what he wanted now, or what he meant. He leaned into Peter, letting him take his weight, and hugged him back. 

"You okay?"

Peter nodded, stroked his fingers through Jared's hair. "Yeah."

Jared stroked down Peter's spine. "Uh. You know you can have whatever you want now?" 

He said it playfully, a joke to try to get Peter to move again, but his voice deepened despite himself, almost catching on the words, turning it into more of a promise. 

Peter gave a half laugh, and when Jared looked up he was smiling. He nodded a little, thoughtfully, and moved, tugging Jared towards the bed. Jared took off his belt as he went, and then let his pants and boxers fall to the floor and kicked free from them. Peter kissed him again then, his hand on Jared's hip, and kept kissing him as he lowered him onto the mattress. He pulled away for a few seconds, enough to rearrange covers and make sure Jared was comfortable, and to tug his towel away and throw it onto the floor, and then he was right next to Jared, pulling him close, and fucking kissing him. 

To begin with Jared was pushing forwards, they were both half hard, and Jared wanted more than that, but Peter had arranged them so he couldn't quite get where he wanted to be, he was kind of tangled in Peter's legs, with blanket between them, and he was trying to sort that out. But Peter was kissing him, and after a minute Jared stopped moving, stopped thinking, maybe stopped feeling anything except Peter's tongue in his mouth, kissing him, tasting him, filling him. Peter was kissing him as though... as though he hadn't seen him in months, like he'd _missed him_. Jared didn't know where that thought came from, but he didn't care either, because it was strong and it fitted somehow, so he kissed back hard, no thought, his whole body simply intent on soothing that. 

Peter was pressing him down onto the bed, his hand on Jared's stomach; Jared loved the weight of Peter holding him down, always had. He wriggled willingly under the touch. He gripped Peter's arm, squeezing him, enough that it might bruise and he didn't care, just wanted Peter to know he was right there.

After an age Peter seemed to calm and the kiss grew gentler, he whispered something, soft words that Jared didn't catch, but he didn't need to, they were nothing, lost in the warmth of Jared's mouth. They breathed hard against each other, into each other. They looked at each other and smiled a bit, then kissed again, until they forgot to breathe and had to stop again. Jared opened his mouth to say how good that was, how hot, but Peter just kissed him again, soft and wet, and that was better than words. 

Jared pushed lightly against the hand holding him down, wanting to make sure Peter wasn't going to let him go. Peter didn't, actually pushed him back a little harder, held him a little steadier, and want and need fluttered uselessly around in Jared's stomach, aching. Jared pushed up harder, safe this time, knowing that Peter would keep him there, and he did, with one hand, as if it was nothing. Peter stopped kissing him for just a second, looked at him, amused, teasing, and Jared moaned and lifted his mouth, sucked at Peter's skin, licked at him, until Peter's mouth pressed him back into the pillow. 

Eventually Peter pulled away again. Jared moaned disappointment and Peter licked him consolingly, then sucked Jared's lower lip into his mouth, and kept it there, sucking so gently, smiling at the whining noise Jared couldn't hold back. Jared ran his hands over Peter's skin, touching him however he could, trying to pull him nearer. But when Jared reached lower, Peter moved away again, shook his head very slightly, kissed Jared's cheek, his throat, then rolled to one side. 

They lay next to each other, catching their breath. Jared turned to look at him, and Peter shifted so he could move closer. Jared settled against Peter's chest, kissed his shoulder, and then rested his head there.

"Are you going to fuck me?"

Peter half laughed, and Jared didn't hate him for it because he also said, "Yes," firmly. 

Jared breathed out a long sigh of relief, but forced himself to say, "If you don't want to do this now, we-"

"I do. I just want-" Peter paused, his thumb stroked over Jared's ear and he glanced at the clock. "I don't want to rush. We've still got a while."

Jared didn't know what that meant, or who was timing them, but it didn't matter. He nodded. They could do this however Peter wanted. They lay quietly for a while, without touching much, not moving, just concentrating on slowing down. 

Then Peter stroked his hair again, and down his spine. "I used to kiss you like that sometimes," Peter said, not looking at him, "Holding you down."

Jared smiled into Peter's skin, "Yeah." 

Jared couldn't remember when they'd started making it a bet, but pretty quickly he thought. They were too embarrassed unless it was some kind of forfeit, so for a while that had been how they did it. _'If I win you have to let me kiss you.'_ Finding any reason to bet each other. Peter almost always won. At fourteen he was already taller and stronger. And they'd kiss for hours, lying on one of their beds, or on the couch if their parents were away. And Peter would hold him down, because he'd won, he'd kiss him for as long as he wanted, usually until Jared was rock hard, until he was squirming, desperately embarrassed. Peter was hard too, but he'd always held it better than Jared did, he never made a sound, just breathed a bit heavier. Still did. 

Jared kissed Peter's throat softly.

For a while they'd left it like that. Just stopped when it was too much, too embarrassed to do anything else. But it hadn't taken them long before they did more than kissing. _'You can touch yourself if you want.'_ Jared moaned now, just thinking about it. They hadn't looked at each other as they did it, hadn't looked at each other when they'd moved on from touching themselves to touching each other, either. Although Peter had learned pretty quickly that if they were anywhere people might hear he needed to have his other hand over Jared's mouth, or better, his fingers in his mouth, or to kiss him, anything to keep him quiet. And sometimes they didn't have space to lie down. They'd hide in the garage, or in Jared's family's boathouse down at the lake. Then sometimes he'd sit over Peter, straddling him, pressing against him as they kissed. The boathouse was Jared's favourite place, it was safest, and quiet, and they never took anyone else there, it was only theirs. That's why Jared had picked it when - - 

He froze. Thought for a minute, then looked up wide-eyed with surprise, wondering if Peter knew. And he blushed because Peter was smiling at him, eyebrow raised, like Jared was an idiot for taking this long. 

Jared smiled, and half shoved at Peter for letting him be an idiot. Then he pulled Peter's mouth down for a kiss. "Were you just going to have anniversary sex with me and not say anything?" he murmured against Peter's lips, then kissed him again.

Peter shook his head. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually."

Jared stroked Peter's face, and ran his thumb over his mouth. February 15th 1992. Peter hadn't changed a bit. And Jared knew that was just ridiculous sentimentality, but it felt true anyway. He'd always been beautiful, his hair was different now, and maybe it grew a little further back, and there were lines around his eyes, eyes which were perhaps a tiny bit more serious now. But he was still all kinds of perfect. Stunning really. Enough that Jared still lost his breath sometimes when he caught sight of him. And sometimes he looked so grown up now, reminded Jared they weren't kids any more. But he could also look just like the boy he'd been, and he did now, clean shaven, fresh from the shower, he was sort of soft around the edges, he still smiled just the same, and tasted the same, and his mouth after he'd been kissed was basically pornographic as far as Jared was concerned, dark and soft and beautiful. 

Jared realised he was staring, and then realised Peter was staring back, examining him the same way. He dipped his head, to hide a little against Peter's arm.

"Twenty years," Peter said softly.

Jared thought that sounded ridiculous, but he did the math and yeah. Twenty years. 

"Dude," he whispered, and Peter nodded. 

Jared shifted even closer, and Peter grinned and held him in a tight hug. They stayed there, locked together with Jared's face buried in Peter's chest. He breathed him in deeply, wondering what the fuck you were meant to say to someone who'd been the best thing in your life for more than twenty years, when you weren't supposed to get romantic about it.

"I know we don't," Peter said, after a long time, and he sounded strange suddenly, "...we don't usually do anything, I know it's not like ..." They both knew what it wasn't like, it wasn't like they were married, or dating, so Peter didn't finish. "But I was thinking about it. All day. I just wanted-"

Jared realised he was apologising, as if this was something wrong. Jared kissed him, because it was the easiest way to shut him up.

"No, Peter it's good," he said quietly, stroking his hand down Peter's chest, down all the way to his belly, and then round to his hip. It was really good. He loved the thought of Peter thinking about it, remembering it. He stroked him back up again as well. "You should have texted me, I'd have come home." If he'd been any later Peter might have already been in bed, might not even have said anything.

Peter stretched into Jared's caress. "I thought you might still be with Ginny, or whatever her name was."

"Oh." Jared waved his hand as if that was stupid. Ginny had been last night, but she seemed a million years away now. He let his hand stroke down Peter's thigh now and back up. "I was scared out of my mind."

He didn't mean now, he meant twenty years ago, and Peter knew, because he nodded. "Yeah, me too. I was scared you wouldn't be there, and terrified you would be."

Jared smiled, Peter might as well be reading his mind. 

"Are you going to fuck me again? The way you did?" 

Peter moaned at the words, and kissed him. "I was thinking maybe something slightly more mutually pleasurable this time."

Jared shook his head. "It was good, Peter."

"All four seconds of it?"

They both smiled, but Jared squeezed him gently. "You were sixteen, it was your first time."

"Yeah, but it was yours too. It should have been better." Peter stroked his hair, and kissed his eye, "You were so beautiful, Jare."

Jared knew he was blushing straight away, and his stomach turned somersaults, and he half laughed just from embarrassment and ducked his head, which only made Peter kiss him again.

"We should have waited," Peter said then, and went on when Jared frowned. "It should have been better. Should at least have waited til I could get you in a bed."

Jared shook his head. "Couldn't have waited another day," he said, perfectly honestly, and it made Peter smile. He couldn't argue because it was true. They'd been desperate for each other, if they'd waited any longer they'd have exploded.

"And," Jared said now, huffing a little bit with want and impatience, "If you don't fuck me soon we're going to miss our anniversary."

"Okay." Peter moved himself closer, pressed his thigh against Jared's cock, and took hold of his hip, squeezing him. He kissed Jared's mouth, then his temple. "You're still beautiful."

Jared hated that, always did. Not that Peter said it a lot, but he never knew what he was meant to say or do, and he hated the way it made him feel kind of warm even though he knew it didn't really mean anything, he knew it was just something people said. He twisted in Peter's arms, and ignored it.

Peter kissed him again. "We've been having sex for twenty years, Jared. It's okay to admit that we like each other."

That made Jared laugh a little bit, which helped. He caught Peter's eye for half a second and lowered his eyebrows in a way which meant that maybe Peter was right about this and Jared admitted that but he didn't want to talk about it right now so would Peter just shut up and fuck him instead. Please. He leaned into Peter's body, rubbing against him, and licked the hollow at the bottom of his throat. 

Peter started stroking him, up and down his spine, then over his ass, then squeezed him there hard, fingers digging in right under his buttock, pulled him forward, harder against his leg, and Jared felt his cock grow two sizes, and he moaned helplessly because Peter knew all the places to touch him, everything he wanted. Because they'd been doing this for twenty years. Still made Jared's head swim as he thought about it. He thrust helplessly against Peter's leg, trapped there, licked at Peter's chest. 

Then Peter shifted his weight, turning them effortlessly, so he was on top of Jared again, his cock pressing against Jared's stomach, and he bent and sucked gently on Jared's ear, while Jared writhed underneath him, trying to get a better angle of pressure against Peter's thigh again. 

Peter grinned and moved lower, lining their cocks up, and Jared moaned yes, yes, and kissed him long and deep as they slid against each other. Peter stayed there for a minute, letting Jared find a rhythm, then he gripped his hair and slowly pulled his head backwards hard, far enough that it hurt, exposing his throat. Jared moaned with pleasure, and Peter started biting him, grazing his teeth over Jared's throat. Jared was panting, oh god Peter, yes, fuck, with every breath, until Peter closed his other hand around their cocks, and then noises simply fought in Jared's throat and came out strangled. Pleasure and need all over him as he bucked in Peter's hand, the grip on his hair unrelenting, Jared couldn't move an inch, and he might have fought, only it was exactly what he wanted, and Peter was fucking licking him, swiping his tongue over Jared's throat, hard, and soft, and Jared knew Peter loved him like this, incoherent, garbled, but that was fine; when Peter was doing this he could have anything he wanted. Jared's hands stroked uselessly at Peter, his hair, his shoulder, anywhere he could reach, he wanted to please him, to make it good for him, but Peter was gripping him so tight, and biting him right there, and it left Jared very little co-ordination to work with. 

Eventually he released him, kissed his mouth again quick and hard. Jared thrust up into Peter's hand, found the rhythm to keep time with his strokes. Peter caught his eye then, and Jared looked at him for a second, a minute, just looked at him, and Peter smiled, enough to make Jared smile too. Jared knew he should tell Peter how beautiful he was, but he didn't want to. And anyway he thought Peter probably knew, he always knew what Jared was thinking.

Peter kissed him again. Gentle again. He started moving lower, kept his hand on Jared's cock, started kissing his chest, sucked on Jared's nipple, his hand still squeezing, working him. He sucked again, then nipped him gently, and moved lower still. 

"Don't," Jared said, after a second. He moaned and stroked through Peter's hair again. He tried to find some weight inside him, something that made him solid. "Don't make me come yet." He would, knew he would if Peter kept moving lower, if he licked him, if he fucking breathed on him. 

Peter moved upwards again instead, kissed Jared's mouth and put a hand on his middle, as if he was reminding him where his centre was. "Okay." He looked at him for a moment. "You going to turn over for me?"

Jared lost all his breath because Peter sounded like he was sixteen, sounded like he was asking for the first time ever, and a sharp jolt of want and desire spread through Jared, his palms ached, and his toes curled. He nodded helplessly, and Peter helped him turn over.

He lay there for a second, with his ass raised up slightly. And he'd have hated it, except he remembered the first time, remembered how stupid and exposed and scared he felt, and for a second he could almost have been back there, could hear the lake outside, and feel the rough bench underneath him. He heard Peter reach for a condom from the drawer, and tear it open. Heard the click of the lube opening, and imagined Peter spreading it over himself. 

"Don't," he said, as Peter touched him, getting ready to spread the lube inside him. "Do it like we did the first time." 

Neither of them had really known to prepare Jared the first time, and if they were honest they hadn't wanted to. Touching Jared there seemed like it would be far more intimate then fucking him, they weren't ready for that, hadn't thought about it. Peter had put lube on himself though, but not really enough, and it had hurt. But it had also been the best thing Jared had ever known. They didn't really need that much lube any more, and not having it would be better, more like the first time.

Peter stroked his shoulder, and over his back. When he spoke his voice was distracted, stretched. "Are you imagining that I'm sixteen, Jare? Because you know that's pervy."

Jared gave a quick bark of laughter at that, shaking because even laughing felt kind of awesome when he was this turned on. He shook his head, but he was a liar. Although it probably didn't count as pervy when he was pretending he was sixteen as well. And Peter was going to fucking come inside him, which was the only thing sixteen year old Jared had thought about for months.

"Just do it," Jared said, which he'd said before. And Peter made a noise in his throat, and reached for Jared's hips without even thinking. Jared spread his legs a little wider, found the right angle automatically, and Peter did the same, lined up and started to push into him. It wasn't like the first time, they both knew what they were doing, and Peter couldn't help but be gentler. All the same he only took a couple of thrusts to bury himself tight inside, right to the base, knowing what Jared wanted, and Jared lost his breath for a second, struggling to get used to the size filling him, Peter's weight behind him. 

He moaned loud and low, and gripped at the sheets, steadying himself as Peter started rocking him gently back and forth, barely moving inside him, his thighs pressing against Jared's, his hands on his hips, and Jared's thoughts were all over the place. Peter was thirty six and so good at this, and they'd done it so often, but he was sixteen, and it was new, and it hurt, but in such a good way. He could remember now how close he'd come to panicking, he could remember why, because when Peter was in him like this it was too much, because Peter wouldn't stop moving, and he was so big and it felt so strange and Jared was sixteen and sure he'd have to make him stop, only he couldn't, because he wanted Peter to keep liking him, and he was thirty-six and he didn't want him to stop, and Peter was fucking him properly now, pulling backwards, and shoving back in, telling him how tight he was, how tight he'd been, and Jared's thoughts circled, he wanted to breathe, and swallow, and think, felt like he needed to catch up, but Peter didn't leave much room for that, just for trying to stay upright, trying to move in time with him, and Jared remembered how he'd worked that out, how much better it was if he leaned back a little, if he moved just like that, how amazing it felt when Peter hit him just there, his cock ached, painful underneath him, heavy and hard, which was wrong, he'd been soft the first time, because it hurt, now he tried to press against the sheets, but Peter held him up, so fucking strong, and then he shoved into him again, and it was so hard, so good, and he remembered how he'd been thinking he'd just wait for Peter to finish, he just wanted to get it over, except then Peter had fucked him like that and Jared felt his dick jerk underneath him against the bench, remembered how he squeezed, moaned, bucked without thinking, and how quickly Peter came when he did, suddenly groaning, almost shouting, and thrusting wildly into Jared until it hurt again but he didn't care, because Peter was making the best noise he'd ever heard, and coming inside him, and it felt like that was all Jared had ever wanted, and he squeezed around him and moaned, and rocked with Peter's hips, moaning, desperate, and now Peter reached around him, squeezed him, fucking milked him, and Jared moaned and whined, wanted Peter to know how much he loved him, how good this was, how much he loved having him like this, always had. 

Jared took a breath. He'd come, Peter's hand was around his cock, and he'd come, and he could hear words pouring out of him, and he tried to swallow, licked his lips, god Peter, god, fuck, so hot, so good, fuck. Peter was still hard inside him, but his rhythm was looser, Jared concentrated, keeping his legs strong, wanted to collapse, wanted to breathe, but waited, and Peter didn't take long at all, he was coming, so quiet, Jared didn't know how he did it, pushing his orgasm deep into Jared, muttering his name, shoving him forwards, thrusting again again again.

Jared waited until he was still, until he was quiet, then let himself collapse. Remembered to stop talking. Remembered to keep breathing. 

He hadn't come the first time, Peter had been too quick, too hard with him, too young not to be. But those brief moments, when it had been good, they'd been all Jared remembered afterwards. All he thought about. 

Peter was next to him, and Jared found all the right muscles for turning over, facing him, and Peter pulled him close. Jared kissed him, wet and hard. 

"Jesus, Peter."

"Yeah."

They lay for a while. Breathing. Jared was going to fall asleep, and he knew Peter knew he was going to fall asleep, because he always did. 

"I'm going to go to sleep."

"Okay."

Jared started to settle in Peter's arms, then realised what he was doing, and half moved back again. "You don't have to stay. If-"

Peter just shook his head, and kept him there. Pulled a cover over him.

Jared kissed Peter's chest sleepily. But it didn't seem to say what he meant it to, so he took a ragged deep breath, and kissed him again. After he'd made a few more attempts, Peter kissed his forehead. "If you're trying to get me started again, you're going to have to wait. A few hours. Possibly a few days."

Jared grinned, but shook his head. Tried words. "It was good, Peter. The first time. It was really good." It was the best moment of his life. That was what he meant, but it wasn't quite what he was trying to say. He kissed him again. "I'm glad it was you." That was what he meant. That was all he could feel.

He could hear Peter smiling. "Me too." And he squeezed him tight, his hand stroking over him lightly, up and down his back.

Twenty years. Jared closed his eyes and breathed Peter in. He could feel sleep pulling him down, his body spent, Peter warm next to him, he rubbed his head against him. 

"Are you happy?" he asked, not really thinking about it before the words were out. After a second he glanced up and Peter was smiling at him, looking beautiful. He nodded, his eyes soft, and Jared loved him more than ever. He looked away, not quite blushing.

"I should have texted you," Peter said softly. "I hated it when you didn't come home. I wanted this, tonight." He paused, and Jared waited for him. Peter half laughed before he went on, but it was nervous. "I was scared you wouldn't come if I texted you. Twenty years on and I was just as scared you wouldn't show up."

Jared stroked him, cuddling close up to him. "I would have come home in a second."

Peter took a deep breath, tired. "I like that." 

He was quiet and serious and it made Jared tingle a little bit, he liked it too. 

"I'll always come home when you want me to."

He said it because it was true, it had sort of always been true, and it wasn't fair to make Peter doubt it.

Peter breathed out heavily. He put his hand in Jared's hair, and Jared reached up and kissed him and pretended not to notice that Peter's eyes were wet. Jared kissed his cheek and tried to frown at him.

"We've been sleeping together for twenty years, Peter Bash. It doesn't take a genius to work out that we like each other." That made Peter smile, and Jared grinned at him stupidly. 

Then he yawned, and Peter moved him, so they could settle down again on the pillows. Jared turned over, Peter's arms coming around him from behind. 

"We have another sort-of-anniversary in a couple of weeks," Peter whispered in his ear as he pulled the blanket up. 

"March fourth," Jared said. The day Peter had quietly asked if Jared wanted to do it the other way round. "I won't be late for that one." 

"Promise?"

Jared nodded, pulled Peter's arm tighter around him, and kissed his hand. He absolutely promised.


End file.
